She couldn't be thwarted this time, though, as she battled former WPT champion Eric Afriat, chipleader Tam Ho and finally Jean-Francois Bouchard heads-up to seal the victory.

On top of the cash and the honor of becoming the first female open-field champ, Zajmovic also won a WPT championship belt, a $15,000 seat in the upcoming WPT Championship and a WPT Champions Cup of her own.

“Honestly, I am really happy that I proved women can do it," Zajmovic told the WPT after her win. "The funniest and nicest part of this experience was all the women who came and were so supportive of me. It was amazing.

"When I started playing poker, there was so much competition between girls. It was hard to be good and be supportive of each other. Now it has evolved so much and it is nice to see I had support from older women, younger women.”

"A Cross Between Phil Ivey and Vanessa Selbst"

Sexton himself was effusive in his praise for Zajmovic's play calling her "tough," "no fluke," and "a cross between Phil Ivey and Vanessa Selbst."

Normally a cash-game player Zajmovic now has two very impressive tournament scores on her resume and over $283k USD in career live earnings.